


Firsts

by ArtemisRayne



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-18
Updated: 2013-03-18
Packaged: 2017-12-05 17:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/725910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemisRayne/pseuds/ArtemisRayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabbles documenting all of the important "Firsts" in Neville Longbottom's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Memories

The first memory that Neville Longbottom has is of his mother. He's not even sure it's a real memory, honestly. It's just an image that he carries around in his mind and thinks about when he's lying in bed at night. It's possible that he invented it, or pieced it together from other memories and thoughts. After all, he was only a year old at the time, and he doesn't have any other real memories until he's three. He likes to think it's real though.

The memory isn't anything very magnificent either. He can just see his mother's face over him. It's not her face as he sees it every time he goes to visit her in St. Mungo's, with the pallid skin and vacant eyes and graying hair. No, it's her face the way it is in the old photographs Gran keeps bound up in a leather album; all heart-shaped face and rosy round cheeks and sweet smile. In his memory her face is just hovering above him, staring down at him with the pale blue eyes so much like his own, and she's smiling as she hums. He can never make out the song, it sounds like some sort of lullaby and it seems to change a little bit every time he thinks about it. But it feels serene and comforting. It's what soothes him to sleep at night, and it's what finally powers his Patronus into a corporeal form.

It's a simple little memory, but it's the first and the best one that he's got.


	2. Grievance

The first time that Neville feels grief is when he's just about six years old. It's early summer and the weather has been unseasonably warm, so he's free to play in the yard as much as he likes. He helps his grandparents chase the gnomes out of the vegetable patches and he competes with himself to see if he can jump over the little pond. At night he tries to catch fireflies and billywigs. All in all, his life is good and happy.

He doesn't think much about it when Granddad gets a cough. It's Granddad, and he's always active and moving, so Neville doesn't expect anything to happen. Three days later though, the cough still hasn't gone away. Granddad is so tired that he doesn't even get out of bed and he coughs so much he sounds like he's going to choke. After another two days he is sweating and shaking. That's when Gran calls the medi-wizard.

The medi-wizard is a cheerful young wizard who smiles a lot and talks really fast. He gives Neville a chocolate frog before he goes in to talk to Granddad, and Neville races off to add the card, Hengist of Woodcroft, to his collection. The medi-wizard is in talking to Granddad and Gran for a long time, so when Neville gets bored he goes out into the yard and tries to throw pebbles over the back wall. It's a lot taller than him and he only makes it over a couple of times. Mostly they bounce off and fall in the grass. He'll have to pick them up later because it annoys Gran when there's rocks in her grass.

Gran comes out to get him for dinner and they eat up in his grandparents' bedroom, so they can sit with Granddad. After they eat, they tell Neville that there's something important they need to tell him. The medi-wizard found out what was wrong with Granddad and he left some potions that would help make the cough hurt less and keep his fever down.

"But there's no potion that will make it go away," Granddad finishes. Gran hasn't spoken much, her jaw clamped shut like she's angry about something. "So they think that really soon I'm going to go away."

"Do you have to go live at the hospital like Mum and Dad?" Neville asks. He knows that the hospital is where people go when they're sick, and it makes sense that they can put Granddad there because he's sick too. "That won't be too bad. Then we can still come visit you, like we visit Mum and Dad."

"No, I won't be at the hospital," Granddad explains and his smile looks sad. That's strange to Neville, because he didn't think smiles could be sad. Smiles were supposed to be for happy things. "I'll be gone, where you can't come visit me."

Gran stands up all of a sudden. She still looks hard and angry, and she gathers up their dinner bowls and leaves the room. Granddad watches her go with the same sad look in his eyes. Neville is just confused. "Where are you going then?" he asks. He didn't know there were places to send people that you couldn't visit them. That just seems cruel.

Granddad sighs and pats the bed beside him. Neville climbs up and sits down cross-legged, staring up at his Granddad's big blue eyes. They have the same eyes, the same eyes that his Dad has too. Longbottom Blues, his Gran calls them. "I'm going to die, Neville," Granddad says gently. "This sickness is going to get too bad, and I'm going to die."

"No." Neville says it before he even thinks about it. Granddad can't die, that doesn't make sense. His granddad has always been there for him, he can't just suddenly go away. Who will help him weed the gardens, and toss food to the kelpies down at the lake? Who will teach him about all of the plants that they want to grow when they finish the greenhouse? Who will be there to talk to him when he's older and in school? He loves his Gran, but there are some things he just can't talk to her about. Granddad has always been the one he talks to.

"Neville, that's the way life goes," Granddad says. He reaches out and puts a hand on Neville's shoulder, and the touch feels so good that Neville feels tears in his eyes. "We grow old and we die. That's just the way things happen."

"It's not fair," Neville whines. He knows he sounds like a little baby but he doesn't care. He doesn't want Granddad to go away. His Mum and Dad don't even know who he is and they won't even talk to him when he sees them. He can't lose Granddad too. "I don't want you to die."

"I know, m'boy," Granddad says. He tugs with the hand on Neville's shoulder and pulls him into his side. Neville curls up on the bed next to him and he cries while Granddad holds him. "But you know what, I am so proud to have seen you grow up this long," Granddad says. "You are going to be a great wizard someday, I know it. And so long as you keep working hard, like you do in those gardens, well then you're going to do just fine."

"I don't want to work in the garden no more," Neville says, wrinkling his nose. "Not without you."

"But you won't be without me, not out in those gardens," Granddad says. Neville blinks and looks up at him with wide eyes. "I will always be out there with all of our plants and when you go out and work in them, then I'm going to be right there with you. You won't be able to see me, but I'll be watching over you and listening to everything you tell me."

"Promise?" Neville asks.

"Promise," Granddad says very seriously.

It's only three days later when Granddad goes away. Neville and Gran are both there, just sitting in there and talking to him. They do that almost all day long during those three days. Neville knows it's 'cause they want to spend all the time together that they can before Granddad leaves. Each day Granddad sleeps more and talks less. That third day, Granddad goes to sleep and doesn't wake up.

The funeral is strange to Neville. He's never been to one before. Everyone is so solemn and quiet. Gran doesn't cry, but lots of people do. Neville doesn't cry much either; he cried most of his tears out that first day. Granddad told him not to cry because he's gone, so he doesn't. Just a couple little tears when he looks in the big wooden box and sees Granddad's pale, blank face frowning up at him. It doesn't look at all like he remembers his Granddad; no sparkling blue eyes, no playful smile, no deep laugh. No, his Granddad is definitely gone.

It's late at night by the time they get home from the funeral. Neville feels a weird, sad ache in his chest and he doesn't know what to do about it. He would talk to Gran about it, but she's talking to Auntie Enid and Uncle Algie, so instead he goes out into the yard. His feet carry him to the little vegetable garden and he stares down at the plants. Flowers are blossoming all over in the green, pretty white and yellow blossoms that he knows are going to turn into delicious veggies that Gran will cook up with supper.

There are stubby weeds poking up through the dirt and Neville frowns at him. Granddad hates it when the weeds try to sneak in and choke his precious plants. Neville hurries to gather up the little digging shovel and the old cracked bucket that Granddad puts the weeds in, and then he goes back to the gardens. Taking off his suit jacket and rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt, he starts plucking out the weeds and tossing them into the bucket. He works until he gets all of the weeds out and dumps them in the bin on the side of the house. Then he fills up the watering can and waters every plant until the soil is damp and dark.

He steps back to admire it. The garden looks good, lush and promising a lot of vegetables come July. Granddad would be proud of it. Neville sits down on the grass and stares at the gardens, thinking about Granddad while he eyes all of the little blossoms on the plants.

"Neville," Gran calls from the back door sometime later when it's very dark out. "Bedtime."

Neville stands up and brushes off his pants, but there's still mud crusted onto the knees and dirty hand prints where he'd wiped his hands off. There's a streak of mud up his right sleeve despite the fact that he rolled them up, and his hands are brown and gritty. Gran doesn't say anything about it when he comes in, which is weird. Normally Gran gets angry when he comes in the house all dirty. She just tells him to take his shoes off at the door and then points him toward the restroom.

Neither of them talk while Neville washes up and then changes into his pyjamas. Uncle Algie and Auntie Enid are gone and the house is quiet. It makes little goosebumps break out on Neville's skin. When he's bundled up in his favourite train pyjamas and curled up under the covers, Gran comes in to tuck him in. She smooths the blankets out much more than usual, fussing over a fray near the corner.

"Gran," Neville says timidly. She doesn't say anything but she nods to show she's listening to him. "I wanna finish the greenhouse. Is that okay? Then we can grow vegetables all year long."

Gran doesn't say anything for a long time. Then she reaches out and brushes the hair off his forehead and bends down to kiss it. "That sounds like a good plan," she says. When she sits up again she looks just the same as always, but there's a little tear sparkling on her cheek. She rubs it away just as fast and says, "Now you get some sleep. That's going to be some hard work."

"Night, Gran," Neville says as she stands up and walks out of his room. She closes the door behind her, but not all of the way so a little crack of light is still visible. She knows he doesn't like the dark. Neville rolls over in his bed and thinks about that little tear on his Gran's cheek. He's never seen Gran cry before. Never. He always thought maybe she just couldn't. That maybe she was too tough to cry. But that was a real tear, he knows it. Which means even his tough old Gran is sad because Granddad is gone.

Neville curls down further in his blankets. The house feels kind of cold all of a sudden, even though it's summer and his pyjamas and blanket are both thick and warm. Usually this time of night Granddad sings when he's getting ready for bed. He's not a good singer; he's loud and sounds more like he's shouting than singing. But he still does it every night and it echoes through the house and makes it less quiet and spooky. Or, he used to do it every night. He won't be doing that anymore. He's gone.

A sob slips out and Neville wraps in tighter on himself. Granddad is gone. He's not going to ruffle Neville's hair, or help him in the garden, or sing silly songs, or tell Gran what a crazy old bat she is ever again. He won't be there when Neville goes away to school, or when he graduates. He won't be there to talk to him about girls when Neville gets his first crush. Even though Neville's scared of girls - they make him stutter and then laugh at him - Granddad was always so sure that Neville would start to like them. He's never going to be there again. Granddad is gone for good.

Shaking with tears, Neville crawls down off his bed. He knows he shouldn't, but he walks across the hall and goes into Gran and Granddad's room. Gran is sitting in bed in her favourite nightgown, the lamps on and a photo album in her lap. She looks up when he comes in, but she doesn't look surprised or stern like she usually does when he comes in after she's tucked him in. Neville climbs up on the bed with her and she lets him snuggle in next to her side. They don't talk. Neville hiccoughs through his tears and Gran just turns the pages in the photo album. Pictures of her and Granddad and Mum and Dad and Neville all smile up at them and wave.

When Gran gets to the last page she closes the book and puts it on the bedside table. She waves her wand and the lights go out, and then she slides down under the covers. Neville lays down beside her and closes his eyes. After a little bit Gran reaches over and wraps her hand around his, and it feels warm and comforting. They don't say anything and they just go to sleep.


	3. Night Terrors

The first time that Neville has the nightmare is because of his Gran. He supposes it's not technically her fault, but in his head it still feels that way. It's Sunday and she's trying to get him to tidy up so they can go visit his parents in the hospital. Neville would much rather stay home and play in the yard, because they got the first real snow of the winter last night. He's seven years old now and he thinks he might finally be tall enough to make a snowman in the yard. But Gran won't listen and she just keeps telling him to put on his nice shirt and clean up his face.

"I don't wanna go," whines Neville. "It's boring."

"Now, Neville," snaps Gran.

"Why?" groans Neville. "They don't know we're there. It's stupid and I don't wanna go. What's the point?"

Gran's face goes hard and Neville knows he's said something wrong. "You sit yourself down on that sofa right now, young man," she says sternly. She waits until he's sitting down before she leaves the room. When she comes back she's carrying a big leather book that looks even older than her. She sits down next to him and opens it up.

There's a big picture right in the middle of the page, two people at a wedding. They look familiar to Neville, but he's not exactly sure why. He just knows he's seen their faces before. Especially her, the woman in the pretty white dress with the big smile. Gran watches him as he reaches out and touches the picture carefully. "These are your parents," she says suddenly.

Neville blinks in surprise and looks from her to the picture real fast. No, that's not right, is it? His parents are older, much much older. Mum and Dad both have lots of gray in their hair, and wrinkles around their eyes. And they never smile like the people in this picture. Mum smiles sometimes, but not all happy like this. Dad never smiles at all. He can see where the faces are the same too though. Mum has the same shape in her face, and the same big blue eyes. Dad's got the same nose, and those big ears too.

"Is the picture way old?" asks Neville.

"Nine years," says Gran. "Just a little bit older than you." That sounds old to Neville, but he knows that that's not long enough for someone to get so old. "This was taken at their wedding. Then two years later you were born. And then just a bit over a year after that was when they got attacked."

Neville's eyes widen in horror. "Attacked?" he asks. "Someone attacked them? Why?"

So Gran told him a story. She told him all about an evil dark wizard named You-Know-Who, who was going to take over the world with his army of evil wizards called Death Eaters. She told him about how dark those times were, how people were disappearing or dying every day, and people like his parents fought to keep the bad wizards at bay. She told him about the day the evil wizard disappeared, how he had tried to kill a little boy named Harry Potter, a baby the same age as Neville, and how somehow he couldn't do it and You-Know-Who vanished.

Then she told him about how some of the evil wizards weren't ready to give up yet. How they still thought that You-Know-Who was out there, and that they could bring him back if they could just find him. So they started attacking people, questioning them to find out if they knew anything about where he might be. They heard that Neville's parents were part of the good fight, so they came to the house one night. They used a curse, an Unforgivable Curse Gran called it, that caused pain. They used it to torture his parents until they couldn't remember anything.

But she told him that they never gave up any information. No matter how much they were tortured, they said nothing to these dark wizards. "Your parents are heroes," says Gran. "No matter if it bores you or if they don't recognise us, they deserve to be remembered. That's why we go to see them, so that the good things they did never get forgotten. You got that, boy?"

Neville nods. His mind is racing. Dark people came and tortured his parents. They used a spell that made them hurt, and it hurt them so bad that now they can't even remember him. These evil wizards, they're the reason that he has to live with Gran and not with his Mum and Dad like a kid is supposed to. It's all their fault.

"Who did it?" asks Neville. "Did they catch them, the bad wizards?"

Gran nods and turns to the back of the picture album. She picks up a folded piece of newspaper print and opens it. There are four people in the picture, three men and one woman. Two of the men are big and bulky and mean looking. One of them is little and blonde and he just looks scared. But it's the woman that catches Neville's eye. She might have been pretty, with her thick dark hair and her light skin, but there's something in her eyes that makes Neville's stomach twist and she has a smile on her face that doesn't look friendly at all. He doesn't know what else to call that look but  _evil_.

"These are the people," says Gran. "When they caught them, they didn't even deny it. That woman there, she was proud of it. Said that it meant when You-Know-Who comes back then she'll be treated like royalty."

Neville feels like maybe he might be sick. Gran puts the newspaper back in the book and closes it. "Alright now, run along and change your shirt," she says. "We're already going to be late." He doesn't argue anymore, just goes to his bedroom and puts on his nice dress shirt. He doesn't talk much as they Floo to St. Mungo's, and at the hospital he sits quietly next to Gran in the plastic chairs between the beds. Dad doesn't move, just stares up at the ceiling, and Mum fidgets with a piece of yarn.

Neville usually sits and talks to them during their visits. They never respond, and Dad rarely even spares him a glance, but sometimes Mum watches him and tilts her head like she's listening. But today he can't bring himself to say anything, because all he can think about is the story Gran told him and the pictures from the album. He doesn't want to talk to them about that. He thinks they wouldn't want to remember it so it's better not to say anything, even if he doesn't know if they understand. So Gran just sits and prattles on about the family and some of her old lady friends and things that she read in the Prophet, until they get ready to go home. Mum gives him a Drooble's wrapper with a vacant smile on her face, and Neville abruptly hugs her.

There are tears in his eyes, because he can look at his mum and her sweet little smile and underneath it he can see the pretty woman in the wedding dress from the pictures in Gran's album. He hugs her around the legs and she pats him on the head like a little pet until he lets go. Then he turns around and hugs his dad as best as he can since Dad doesn't even sit up. He murmurs a quick, "Love you," to both of them and then follows Gran out of the ward, tucking the gum wrapper into his pocket as he goes.

It's hard to fall asleep that night. Gran makes his favourite stew but he can't make himself eat very much of it. He's had a sick twisting feeling in his stomach all day and he's afraid if he eats too much of the onion stew then he might vomit. So after he picks through his dinner and listens to Gran read the Evening Prophet like she does every night, he goes up to bed. He lays on his back and stares up at the ceiling and thinks about the story Gran told him. When he finally does fall asleep it's to bad dreams.

It starts with his favourite memory, of his mum's pretty face humming to him. Then after a minute his dad's face joins her and they are both just smiling at him, smiling those big happy smiles like from the picture of their wedding. But then suddenly it changes. The colours turn darker and they both start screaming. High, horrible screams that make Neville want to cover his ears and hide, but he can't move. He is stuck there just listening to them scream with terrible looks on their faces. As he watches their hair changes to gray and their faces sink and their eyes get dull until they look like corpses, like pictures of Inferi or vampires that he saw in Uncle Algie's monster book.

Then Mum and Dad disappear and all he can see is that woman from the news clipping, with her thick black hair swirling around her and that scary smile on her face. She's grinning at him, laughing even while the screams go on in the background, louder than ever. Her big dark eyes are fixed on him and Neville feels afraid. Then she lifts a wand and points it at him and he knows that she's going to hurt him, hurt him just like she hurt his parents. There's a flash of bright red light and Neville wakes up screaming.

He screams and screams like he's never screamed in his whole life. His whole body is wet with sweat and he looks around his dark bedroom, expecting the evil woman to jump out of his closet or from behind the bureau. His door opens with a crash and he screams even more as someone runs at him. And then Gran is sitting on the bed with him, her arms wrapped around him as she pulls him against her chest. He stops screaming, but now he's crying and shaking. She just holds him as he curls up in a ball against her side and sobs, and she pats his back and makes little shushing noises.

It feels like ages later when he stops crying enough to talk. Gran asks him what happened and he tells her, in broken sentences, about the dream. About the evil woman and the screams and the bright red spell that he knew was going to make him hurt so much he would forget her too. She holds him tighter, her bony fingers almost painful on his arms.

"You listen to me, Neville," she says and he isn't sure whether it's really her voice shaking, or if he's just shaking so bad he can't hear right. "That woman is never going to hurt you, you hear me? No, you're going to grow up to be a strong, brave wizard, just like your parents, and if you ever do meet that woman then you'll get the best of her. I can promise you that. No, that woman is never going to hurt this family again."

It all sounds so crazy to Neville, but Gran sounds so sure that he nods. Because Gran is always right. That's what happens when you're an old grown-up like her, you just know things. She tells him to get up and he does, and she keeps her arm around him when they go downstairs to the kitchen. He sits at the table and she makes them a pot of tea. It's warm and sweet, and Neville drinks it all because it makes the fear and the cold from his dream fade away. It also makes his head feel light and sleepy. He only finds out much later that it's because she added a couple drops of a sleeping potion.

When he's finished with it, Gran walks him back up to bed and tucks him in. Then, for the first time in a really long time, she gives him a kiss on the forehead before she wishes him goodnight. She isn't even out of the room before he falls asleep, and he doesn't dream again that night.


	4. Companionship

Neville's first friend is Rupert Pamscarper. He's two years older than Neville, but they're the only kids their age from wizarding families in their neighbourhood. They meet when Mrs. Pamscarper is having a Potion party at her house and Gran drags Neville along because she doesn't like leaving him alone at the house even though he's nine years old. While the grown-ups talk about potions for cleaning and cooking, Neville and Rupert stand around in the back yard.

"Do you want to play Goblin Wars with me?" Rupert asks suddenly.

"How do you play that?" Neville asks curiously.

Rupert's eyes go big. "You've never played Goblin Wars before?" he asks in surprise. When Neville shakes his head he laughs. "It's not hard, I'll teach you. We each pretend to be Goblin warriors and then we have a huge battle. When I play with my cousins I'm always Bragnort the Brave. He'd got a giant hammer and a shield made of gold."

"Wow," Neville says in awe. He's seen goblins before when he's gone to Diagon Alley with Gran and he thinks they're kind of scary. Uncle Algie has told him all about the Goblin Wars and how they were violent and scary. He imagines a little goblin with a hammer and a shield of gold, and he trembles.

"Yeah, he's great," Rupert says enthusiastically. "You can be Skarboh the Stout. He's the one my cousin Dorcas always plays, he's got this great bloody axe."

"Cool," Neville says. After that Rupert starts talking him through how to play Goblin Wars. Basically they run around the yard and pretend to try and kill each other. Neville's not quite sure what to do, because he's never played pretend games with someone before. He doesn't have any cousins or other friends to play with, so he mostly just plays in the gardens by himself. Rupert goes easy on him, and lets him keep playing even after he should have died, but he still wins in the end when he jumps out from behind a bush and pretend-bashes Neville's head in with his magic hammer.

"You're good at that," Neville says, sitting down on the grass and panting. He's not used to running around so much.

"I'm the best out of all my cousins," Rupert says proudly. "Even the ones that are older than me and have gone to school. My cousin Dorcas is at Hogwarts now, and I get to go next year."

"You can do magic then?" Neville asks. He's seen magic all his life but he's never been able to do it himself. "Have you gotten your letter?"

"I haven't got it yet but I'm sure it'll come soon," Rupert says. "I made my cousin Jeremiah's hair turn pink once when I was mad at him. It was funny, but Mum got mad at me." Neville laughs, because having pink hair would be very funny. "Do you collect Wizard Cards? I've got about a hundred now. C'mon, I'll show you."

Rupert leads Neville into the house and they spend the rest of the afternoon holed up in his bedroom, looking through all of his cards - he really does have a lot of them, much more than Neville - and arguing about which ones are better. When Gran comes to collect him to go home, Neville's actually sad to leave. Rupert is strange and abrasive and arrogant, but he's the first kid Neville's really gotten the chance to play with and he likes it.

Gran brings him back at least once a month after that, and they trade cards and play Goblins in the back garden. It's fun and for the first time Neville feels like maybe he has a friend. And then the first of September comes and Rupert goes away to Hogwarts. He doesn't send owls to Neville like he said he would. Neville thinks maybe he's just busy. He doesn't know how hard school is, he's always been home-taught by his Gran.

But then Christmas comes and goes, and Rupert never invites him over to play during the holiday. By the next spring, Neville has gone back to playing in the garden by himself and sometimes he plays Goblin Wars with the toad that lives in the pond. He can actually win against the toad.

Eventually his letter comes and he goes away to school. In the hallway one day he sees Rupert, walking with some of his friends from Slytherin. They exchange glances and Rupert gives him the smallest of nods and smiles, and then keeps going. Neville doesn't even bother trying say hello to him. He knows their days of playing make-pretend in the yard are over, and they've both got new lives now. Neville grows up and makes new friends, but he'll always remember Rupert Pamscarper, king of the Goblin Wars.


	5. Enchanting

The first time Neville does magic is because of his Great Uncle Algie. Well, actually if he's fair the blame can be evenly divided between Uncle Algie and Auntie Enid. He's ten years old now and with his eleventh birthday drawing closer everyday he's still shown no signs of magic. Although his family tries not to let it show, they are getting anxious.

Neville is all but terrified, personally. All his life, he's been told that he'll grow up to be a great wizard like his parents. Everyone has always assumed that he would be like a normal wizarding boy, and he'd get his letter and go away to Hogwarts with the rest of the kids his age. It's what he always thought would happen. But now he's starting to wonder if he might be the first Longbottom Squib instead.

His lack of magic certainly isn't for lack of trying, either. When Neville's alone he tries to focus and make things happen, but nothing ever does. And after his ninth birthday, Great Uncle Algie takes it upon himself to try and provoke some magic out of his great nephew. At first he's subtle about it. He jumps out at Neville around corners and makes loud noises when he's least expecting it. When his tenth birthday comes and goes, and none of those tricks work, Great Uncle Algie starts getting creative.

He "accidentally" locks Neville inside of the greenhouse with a garden snake once. The only result is that Neville shrieks himself hoarse and breaks several flower pots while taking refuge on top of the supply table. He Charms a hummingbird and a bee to chase Neville around the yard, hoping Neville will somehow stop them with magic, but Neville just runs in terror until he dives into the pond for safety. Then of course there's the time when they're on holiday and Uncle Algie pushes him off the edge of Blackpool Pier. Neville very nearly drowns in the sea and spends most of the rest of his life afraid of deep water.

Now it's only four months until Neville's eleventh birthday, and he's hanging out of the upstairs window. Or to be more specific, he's being hung out of the window by his ankles by Great Uncle Algie. Neville's thrashing, trying to get free, but his elderly uncle is a lot stronger than he looks. Neville looks down at the garden below his head and wonders if he really wants to get free.

"Uncle Algie, let me in," he shrieks. He's stopped wiggling, afraid of being dropped on his head, but he's shaking. He's never been very fond of heights even when he's upright and on his feet. "Please."

"C'mon, Neville, just a little magic," Great Uncle Algie goads. He shakes Neville slightly and Neville squeaks in terror, his hands clawing for the side of the house in hopes that he can find something to grab onto. It's nothing but a blank stretch of brick in front of him. Hanging upside down like this, he can hear his heartbeat hammering away in his ears. He can't help but wonder where in Merlin's name Gran is. She would put a stop to this.

"Please," Neville whines again. "I can't. Just let me in, please!"

"Algie, you up here?" Neville hears his Great Auntie Enid's voice from inside and he feels his heart leap. She'll stop this, she'll make Uncle Algie bring him in. "Would you like some meringue?" Neville hears the door inside open and that's when it happens; Uncle Algie's hands loosen.

Neville feels his feet slide through his grip and suddenly he's falling. He's screaming, and he's fairly certain he can hear shouts from other people too, but mostly all he can focus on is the ground coming closer and closer to his face. He can see the garden box below him, the little green sprouts pushing up through the earth, and he thinks he's going to die. Terrified, he curls up in a ball, wrapping his arms around his legs and tucking his face into his knees. The ground is getting closer every second and he screws his eyes shut right before he hits.

And he bounces.

A startled yelp escapes him as Neville feels his body hit the dirt and then rebound. It doesn't hurt, like he thought it would. It feels like jumping on a trampoline, like the one that he played on at the Pier. He bounces off the ground and flies into the air again, then comes down in the middle of the lawn and back up again. Four more times he bounces, a little lower every time, until he comes down near the walk and rolls to a stop. He's shaking in horror, but he's most definitely alive.

"Neville!" That's Gran's voice and Neville looks around to see her running across the lawn at him. Uncle Algie and Auntie Enid are leaning out of the upstairs window, their eyes wide in surprise. "Neville, are you alright?" Gran asks when she stops next to him.

"Yeah," Neville says. He checks again, just in case, and sees that he is indeed fine. No bumps or scrapes or bruises. "I'm okay."

"That'a boy!" Uncle Algie shouts from the window and laughs. "Knew you had it in you!"

Neville wonders what he's so excited about, and then he realises: he must have just done magic. No one has their wands out. No one else jumped to his rescue. He bounced because he did the magic himself. He did magic. "I bounced!" Neville says eagerly, looking up at Gran. "I did that. I did magic!"

He can tell Gran is mad, because there are hard lines all around her mouth, but she still smiles just a little bit. "Yes, you did," she agrees. "Now c'mon, let's get you inside and cleaned off. You've got dirt and grass all over you."

Gran shepherds Neville inside and while she scrubs dirt off his face she screams at Uncle Algie until she loses her voice completely. Uncle Algie acts sorry, but he doesn't ever stop smiling and when Gran is looking the other way he winks at Neville and gives him a thumbs-up. Neville knows he should still be frightened about what happened, but he's smiling too. He just did magic. So that means he isn't a Squib. He can still grow up to be a great wizard like his Mum and Dad.


	6. Confidant

Neville's first pet is a fat, ugly toad. He was never really interested in having pets. There were the old toads out in the garden pond that he used to play with as a kid, until one year the toads didn't come back after the snows went away. Every once in a while he plays with Mrs. Next-Door's cat, a scrawny little creature with tufts of hair sticking up off its ears, but most often it hisses and slaps at him so he leaves it alone unless it comes to him. Besides, petting the cat makes his nose itch.

But Great Uncle Algie is so proud that Neville managed his first sign of magic that the next time he comes by the house - nearly three weeks later because Gran is so furious at him for dangling Neville out of a window in the first place - he brings the toad as a present. It's a squirmy little thing that shifts around in his hands while Neville tries to hold onto him. Neville wishes it was an owl, because he's going away to school in a few months and owls are more useful, but he doesn't want to be ungrateful so he gives his uncle a hug and takes the toad out into the garden to play.

At first the toad doesn't move around a whole lot when Neville puts it down in the grass. It stares at him with its big brown eyes and puffs its body up and down while it breathes. Neville wonders if maybe the toad is scared at being put in a new place. He sits down in front of the toad and gives it a nice smile. Gran says smiling makes people feel better, even though she doesn't seem to do it much herself. The toad just gives a low  _ribbit_  and keeps staring.

"C'mon little toad, I'm not going to hurt you," Neville says softly, trying not to frighten it. "We can be friends. My name's Neville." The toad blinks. "I should give you a name. Would you like that? What about George?" The toad stares. "Hmm, no, maybe Roger?" The toad still stares. "Something else then. What about Trevor?"

The toad abruptly lets out a loud  _ribbit_  and jumps onto the top of Neville's head. He laughs and grabs the toad, setting it in the grass again. "Alright, Trevor it is," he says. Trevor the toad  _ribbit_ s again. "C'mon Trevor, I wanna show you the pond." He scoops the toad up and carries him across the garden to the little pond in the corner. He sits on the grass and sets the toad down next to him, and after a few minutes Trevor the toad wanders down to the water. His long tongue snaps out and grabs a dragonfly buzzing over the water and Neville giggles with delight.

Neville sits and talks to Trevor the toad for a long time. He tells him about his family, and how he did magic for the first time, and how he's waiting for his letter from Hogwarts. He talks about how he's scared to go away to school, and what if no one likes him or he's bad at magic. The longer he talks the more he realises that he really likes having Trevor the toad to chat with. He thinks that at least if he doesn't make many friends at school, he'll still have Trevor the toad to talk to.

Trevor jumps up into the grass again, and starts hopping across the yard. Neville chases after him, following the toad as he jumps all around the yard. He races him around the greenhouse and to the back door and all the way across to the fence at the rear of the gardens. Neville treats it like a game of tag, chasing Trevor the toad and trying to catch him. When he finally does catch Trevor at the back fence, he's panting and out of breath but grinning.

As time passes, Neville finds the game of tag less entertaining. When his letter comes and he goes away to Hogwarts, Trevor the toad makes a bid for freedom on the Hogwarts Express and Neville spends the whole trip wandering up and down corridors, checking in compartments to see if Trevor is hiding in there. He is distraught on the boat trip to the castle, thinking that he's lost his new friend, and they only actually find Trevor when they've reached the castle and the giant man Hagrid sees him in the bottom of a boat.

The escapes continue to take place all year long and Neville spends most of the time he's not in classes hunting down his runaway toad. Trevor the toad hides under the other boys' beds or beneath the furniture in the common rooms. One time when he slips out into the main castle it takes Neville three days to find him, lurking in the toilet on the sixth floor.

But as much as it's a hassle, Neville doesn't mind playing hide-and-seek with Trevor the toad. Because at the end of the day there's always someone there to listen to his troubles and he realises that maybe it's a good thing to have a pet after all.


End file.
